Love the farm house--so pretty, does it really need new windows? I love wooden windows, we have them in this house, but I do know they aren't perhaps as efficient as modern windows. We use lined curtains right up against the window frames to insulate a bit during the colder months--makes a big difference, especially in our bedrooms.
Unfortunately, it does need new windows. Some of the wooden ones would be okay, but others are broken or in really bad shape. Not sure when we will actually get around to replacing them with all the other costs associated with moving, but we wanted to know what kind of $ we were looking at. The windows that are broken do have storm windows (except for one and we'll have to do something with that) so we can wait a bit.
Got a bit of packing done today, took our broken lawn mower (always something!) to the repair shop, met several people at the property for some estimates. Since two of the people called to say they were going to be later than expected, we decided to go ahead and pull out some of the trees growing way too close to the house. Actually got all of those out on one side so it felt good to accomplish something!
I know it had to feel good getting those trees that were too close to the house taken care of...been there done that (even though we don't have an official house).
When we bought our land in '09 and made trips out here from TN to work on our clearing, we had hoped to leave a few more trees in it. Unfortunately (or fortunately...depends on how ya wanna look at it), the more we worked in the clearing, the more damaged trees we found. My BIL reluctantly kept cutting what we asked him to cut down and after the last 2 storms that we've dealt with, we're glad we cleaned out what we did as they would have been risks that could have blown over or snapped off and landed on the camper or vehicles.
I know there are places around here where you can still see a ton of downed trees after the big storm in the end of June. And, the local state park is STILL closed due to all the downed trees. They managed to get the beach opened back up, and the office, but that's been it. You can't hike, boat or fish there. (Though I'm sure people still manage to do so.)
Been a busy few days. We have gotten a bit more work done at the farm house, discovering that some things aren't as bad as we thought and some things are worse. All in all, it still looks pretty promising. Getting the land cleared today--I am excited about that. Getting ready to go out there in a little while--mainly because I want to watch! I've never seen that type of work done and think it will be interesting.
Turns out that our friends aren't going to be able to buy our current house after all. The company he was going to work at didn't get the new contract and now 20 people are losing their jobs. I feel far worse for them than for us--they really wanted to live here and it would have been perfect for their family. As for us, we will just put it on the market as was our original plan. Not the best news, but we have been praying that if anything wasn't supposed to work out the way God intended, then He would just put up a road block to make our way impossible and turn it to what He wanted. And our friends are the same way, so even though we are all disappointed, we know it will work out.
We have started to see "critters" around the new place. A while back, we saw two turkey hens when we were driving around the field. And Saturday when we were out there we saw a rat! Yuck! We knew that there had been rats/mice/squirrels...something....but had been hoping they had all been killed off. No such luck so we will deal with that. Wouldn't bother me too much if he hadn't been coming out from under the house! Guess we will get used to dealing with things like that.
Well, I better get my things gathered and head out. I want to do some cleaning while I am out there and hopefully take some before and after pictures of the clearing. Oh--still no water so we are just carrying what we need in a rain barrel for now!
I'd do what you can to get rid of the rats. They can be a big problem. If you don't get upset w/snakes, I'd see if I could find a few that aren't poisonous and will eat rats and put them down the hole.
Long day. Spent time cleaning a little bit out at the farm house and mostly answering questions for the person clearing the land and walking around looking at the stuff being cleared. He did a good job and will finish up tomorrow. it looks so much different! I am pleasantly surprised at how pretty it is back toward the pines. i will try to post pictures tomorrow. Tonight, I am just tired!
Taking a day off today! We went to church this morning, I took a nap after lunch, now am making rice pudding and catching up on the computer! The week was busy and we got several things accomplished. Still a long way to go, but seeing the progress is interesting. The biggest thing is having the clearing done--what an amazing difference. Found out that county water isn't an option for us--it would actually be possible, but would wind up costing as much as a well anyway. So tomorrow, I will call and get it arranged to have that done. Our trailer will arrive in mid-October so if all goes well, we will be out there by the first part of November. Nothing to exciting going on, just a great deal of work! Here are some pictures of the clearing.